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    Category Astronomy/Space

    The largest Virtual Universe ever simulated

    June 10, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The Cosmic Web: A section of the virtual universe, a billion light years across, showing how dark matter is distributed in space, with dark matter halos the yellow clumps, interconnected by dark filaments. Cosmic void, shown as the white areas, are the lowest density regions in the Universe. Credit: Joachim Stadel, UZH

    The Cosmic Web: A section of the virtual universe, a billion light years across, showing how dark matter is distributed in space, with dark matter halos the yellow clumps, interconnected by dark filaments. Cosmic void, shown as the white areas, are the lowest density regions in the Universe. Credit: Joachim Stadel, UZH

    Researchers from the University of Zurich have simulated the formation of our entire Universe with a large supercomputer. A gigantic catalogue of about 25 billion virtual galaxies has been generated from 2 trillion digital particles. This catalogue is being used to calibrate the experiments on board the Euclid satellite, that will be launched in 2020 with the objective of investigating the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

    Over 3 years, a group of astrophysicists from t...

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    Composition of Earth-size planets in TRAPPIST-1 system

    June 9, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. The lighter green indicates optimistic regions of the habitable zone and the darker green denotes more conservative limits. Credit: University of Oklahoma 2. This artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Image credit: NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle. 3. The TRAPPIST-1 system contains a total of seven Earth-size planets. Three of them — TRAPPIST-1e, f and g — dwell in their star’s so-called ‘habitable zone.’ Image credit: NASA

    1. The lighter green indicates optimistic regions of the habitable zone and the darker green denotes more conservative limits.
    Credit: University of Oklahoma
    2. This artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Image credit: NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle.
    3. The TRAPPIST-1 system contains a total of seven Earth-size planets. Three of them — TRAPPIST-1e, f and g — dwell in their star’s so-called ‘habitable zone.’ Image credit: NASA

    A University of Oklahoma post-doctoral astrophysics researcher, Billy Quarles, has identified the possible compositions of the 7 planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system...

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    High-Pressure experiments solve Meteorite Mystery

    June 9, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1. Cristobalite crystals from Harvard Mineralogical Museum, found at Ellora caves in India. Credit: RRUFF Project / University of Arizona 2. A fresh impact crater on Mars, as imaged by the HiRISE camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

    1. Cristobalite crystals from Harvard Mineralogical Museum, found at Ellora caves in India. Credit: RRUFF Project / University of Arizona
    2. A fresh impact crater on Mars, as imaged by the HiRISE camera on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

    X-ray analysis reveals unexpected behaviour of silica minerals. With high-pressure experiments at DESY’s X-ray light source PETRA III and other facilities, a research team around Leonid Dubrovinsky from the University of Bayreuth has solved a long standing riddle in the analysis of meteorites from Moon and Mars. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, can explain why different versions of silica can coexist in meteorites, although they normally require vastly different conditions to form...

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    Ingredient of Life found around infant Sun-like Stars

    June 8, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ALMA has observed stars like the Sun at a very early stage in their formation and found traces of methyl isocyanate -- a chemical building block of life. This is the first ever detection of this prebiotic molecule towards a solar-type protostar, the sort from which our Solar System evolved. The discovery could help astronomers understand how life arose on Earth. This image shows the spectacular region of star formation where methyl isocyanate was found. The insert shows the molecular structure of this chemical. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/L. Calçada

    ALMA has observed stars like the Sun at a very early stage in their formation and found traces of methyl isocyanate — a chemical building block of life. This is the first ever detection of this prebiotic molecule towards a solar-type protostar, the sort from which our Solar System evolved. The discovery could help astronomers understand how life arose on Earth. This image shows the spectacular region of star formation where methyl isocyanate was found. The insert shows the molecular structure of this chemical.
    Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/L. Calçada

    Two teams have harnessed the power of ALMA in Chile to detect the prebiotic complex organic molecule methyl isocyanate in the multiple star system IRAS 16293-2422...

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